The Third Order
by Rossaldinho7
Summary: After the events of Order 66, Ahsoka Tano encounters two mysterious, blue-cloaked figures
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Order 66

**Clone Captain Rex**

Clone Captain Rex was conflicted. For five years he had served the republic, sometimes under the very man leading him towards the Jedi Temple, but the man he had once known was gone, replaced by the Sith Lord Darth Vader. His fellows seemed to be blindly following the Sith Apprentice's orders, but Rex was not going to. Using the attack as cover, he snuck away, taking off his helmet, he slipped away down a corridor and started looking for younglings before the Sith could find them. Soon, he found a few, who were cowering in a cupboard, their eyes closed.

"Step away, Rex," said a familiar voice behind him. He turned, to see the familiar Togruta padawan, both lightsabers drawn, but not ignited.

Rex turned, his hands up at his helmet. He unclasped it, and took it off.

"I am not here to hurt you, Ahsoka Tano, nor these padawans," said Rex "If my brothers are willing to stoop to this level, I no longer consider myself one of them. I am a soldier of the Republic, but it's not the Republic anymore. I'm going AWOL."

Ahsoka looked directly into Rex's eyes, then lowered her lightsabers. "You three can come out," said Ahsoka "He's not here to hurt us."

The three younglings, two humans and a twilek, scurried out of the cupboard to hide behind Ahsoka. Rex holstered his weapons and walked out of the room, Ahsoka and the three younglings following behind.

"What's your plan?" asked Rex "Surely you didn't mean to fight the whole Republic army in here?"

"Protect the younglings, try and get to the hangar, steal a ship and run," Ahsoka shrugged "Improvise around that if needed."

"You really are Anakin's apprentice," said Rex

"What happened to him?" she asked "I've not seen him since the Chancellor was kidnapped, he told me to stay here."

"It's a long story, and I don't have time to explain it now," said Rex "I'll let you know once we get out of this mess."

Ahsoka nodded. As they got towards the hangar, they found their way blocked by three clone troopers. Rex drew his guns, firing at one, while Ahsoka buried her lightsabers in another. The three padawans deflected fire from the third trooper, taking him out as well. Ahsoka continued towards the hangar. When they arrived, the hangar appeared deserted, all the Jedi that usually manned it, apparently fighting in the battle.

"We should take the gunship," said Rex "It looks enough like one of ours, it'll go unnoticed, we take a Jedi ship we'll be sitting ducks."

"Agreed," said Ahsoka "But we should ditch it as soon as possible, get a less recognisable ship."

**Ahsoka**

They entered the small gunship. The Jedi had heavily modified it to give it hyperspace capabilities, which other gunships, designed as troop transports, did not have. While this made the compartment space smaller, it was plenty large enough for the five of them. Rex and Ahsoka went into the pilot compartment and powered up the ship, Ahsoka piloting, while Rex manned the guns. Ahsoka used the force to open the bay doors, flying the gunship out and into the upper atmosphere, looking down mournfully at the fires that were growing at the Jedi temple. Then, her Jedi training kicked in, and she locked away her feelings. After all, grief could lead to the dark side.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: En-route to Tatooine**

**I probably shouldn't be uploading this so soon after the last chapter. I have an exam later today, which I haven't revised enough for, but the amount of followers I got in just a few days convinced me to update sooner. I have decided I will respond to all reviews on every fifth chapter of this story, as I feel this will give me time to formulate a good response. Anyway, a little bit more about the Padawans that came with the group...**

**Padawan Seria**

Padawan Seria was distressed. She had tried to suppress her feelings as the masters had taught her, but she was panicking. She had seen her master gunned down by the very soldiers that had saved both their lives so many times. There was a loud grinding noise, and then Ahsoka was in front of her.

"You need to calm down, Seria," said Ahsoka "Your force powers are hurting the ship."

"I can't," said Seria "It's all too much. My masters are gone, the people I looked up to, respected, what hope do we have against such evil."

"Tell me about the first time you felt your connection to the Force," said Ahsoka

"It was on Felucia," said Seria "One of the Acklay had broken through our tribe's defences, it was going to kill us, but I felt a connection to it. I reached out with my mind, and it calmed. I was able to get it to go outside the tribe's boundaries again. It didn't come back. My parents sent me to the Jedi Temple for training."

The groaning noise had stopped.

"It sounds like a beautiful planet," said Ahsoka "I did not have the pleasure of ever going there."

"It's a dangerous place," said Seria "The Acklay are just one of the monsters that inhabit those jungles. Neither the Separatists or the Republic could get a proper foothold there. I would suggest we go there, but we would not find a ship there. But it does have a wild beauty to it."

"We will go there some day," promised Ahsoka "If anything, it'll be a good hiding place if the Republic find us."

Ahsoka returned to the cockpit, sealing it behind her. The other two padawans, both human, brother and sister name Dean and Sera, came to sit on either side of her, giving her the comfort of their presence. The three friends sat, in companionable silence.

**Ahsoka**

After sealing the cockpit against sound, Ahsoka sank into the co-pilots chair.

"One crisis averted," said Ahsoka, she looked tired, as if she hadn't slept in days "But we're running from the full might of the Republic, I don't know how long we can keep this up, if these padawans can't even control their force powers, what hope do we have of passing undetected?"

"Once we get a ship, we need to get out of civilized areas," said Rex "I would suggest Naboo, it's neutral territory inside Republic control, we might be able to hide there for a few cycles, but I think we should aim to get out of Republic space as soon as possible."

"Good idea, Rex," said Ahsoka "We'll head to Tatooine first, sell this gunship to the Jawas for scrap, use the money to buy a new ship on the black market."

"If we can get a ship, it'll be there," said Rex "I'll set the coordinates, you get some sleep."

Ahsoka nodded, and went back into the compartment.

**Dean**

Knight Ahsoka came back into the room. Dean got up from where he had been sleeping, curled up with Seria and Sera.

"What's our plan?" asked Dean, immediately.

"We are going to get some sleep while we're in hyperspace," said Ahsoka "I will keep you three safe, I promised Master Plo before he... left."

"Do you think he still lives?" said Dean

"I very much doubt it," Ahsoka sighed "I would not be surprised if we four were the last Jedi in existence, I can hope that the Jedi that were away from the temple escaped with their lives, but if all of the clone troopers were told to turn on their former commanders, there is a very slim chance that a few survived."

"Have hope, Knight Ahsoka," said Dean "We may find more Jedi yet."

Ahsoka smiled. "We will certainly try our best, young one."


	3. Chapter 3

**Ahsoka**

The ship landed on Tatooine's Mos Eisley Spaceport. Controlled by the Hutts, Tatooine was currently outside of either Republic or Separatist control, a hub for all the scum of the galaxy- slavers, bounty hunters, criminals, Hutts. It wasn't safe to stay here, and it was only a matter of time, and how big the bounty was for captured Jedi, before somebody on this planet thought it was a good idea to attack and capture them. On top of that, the Hutts don't take kindly to Republic soldiers on their planet. The solution, was that Ahsoka would leave her lightsabers behind, taking one of Rex's blaster pistols as protection, as she went to sell the ship, and buy a new one.

She approched a spaceport attendant, and told him that she had a ship to sell, and was looking to buy another, but that she wished to be discreet, passing him 50 credits as a bribe. He nodded, and followed her back to the ship.

"A republic gunship," said the attendant, his voice sounded surprised.

"We are fugitives from the Republic," said Ahsoka "We are looking to sell this ship, and buy a second of equal or better value to take us somewhere safer."

"I may have just the ship," he said "Come, come."

He led her into a smaller, private hangar, where a Correlian Corvette stood in its moorings.

"Very nice," said Ahsoka, examining the ship. It was designed to carry a small complement of troops with minimal crew needed to pilot it. It could very well be piloted by two people, with additional guns on either side, manned by two additional crew. It was almost designed more for luxury than battle, although she had heard that on Correlia, ships like this had been used as mobile command centres.

"How much?" asked Ahsoka, turning to the spaceport attendant, but as she turned, she noticed he had a gun pointed at her. Immediately, her Jedi reflexes kicked in, she jumped over the head of the attendant, pulling out her gun as she did. By the time she landed, her gun was cocked at his head.

"Don't move a muscle, or I'll shoot," she said. As she did, two red lights started moving over her chest.

"How fast can you shoot, Jedi?" asked the attendant, smiling "My men can shoot faster, I assure you. Now, why don't you put that weapon down."

The doors to the corvette opened, and three more men came down the ramp aiming assault rifles at her. She slowly lowered her laser pistol to the ground. One of the men brought out electro-cuffs and made to move towards her. However, before he could reach her, five small balls fell from the sky, three landing around Ahsoka, and two landing over where the red lights were still trained on her. All of them were flashing with a red light. All four of the men immediately threw themselves to the ground, but Ahsoka remained standing, the Force telling her it wasn't dangerous to her. She sensed other presences in the Force, more powerful than any single Jedi she had ever felt, dropping silently from the ceiling. The three bombs around her blinked off and smoke began filling the room. The familiar sound of lightsabers igniting filled the room, and she could see, from the number of lightsabers, at least a dozen Jedi were weaving through the fog. She heard yells as the lightsabers sliced through flesh and bone, the crack of laser rifles and pistols as the men attempted to fight back, then, the lightsabers deactivated. No longer able to see, just feel the extremely powerful force presences, Ahsoka concentrated on clearing the fog from the room. The four men she could see, were all on the ground, apparently dead, and two cloaked figures were standing in front of her.

Both appeared human, the younger one female, the older one male. Both were wearing blue-coloured cloaks, adorned with numerous lightsabers. Ahsoka recovered her pistol, and made for the door.

"I thank you for your assistance, but I am afraid I am unable to thank you now, if they attacked me here, they surely know about my companions back on the ship," said Ahsoka, as she walked briskly out of the hangar "But if you two are Jedi, you might be better tagging along with us, the Repbulic is trying to hunt down all Jedi, we're branded enemies of the Republic."

"You doubt that we are Jedi?" asked the older male

"I don't think you're Sith," said Ahsoka "But I've never seen those blue cloaks before. My instincts say I can trust you, we can talk about who you are later on."

Ahsoka walked back towards the ship, collecting Rex and the padawans, telling him to fly the gunship into the rather sizable cargo hold of the Correllian Corvette, then didn't speak again until they were off Tatooine.

"All right, who are you two, and why did you help us?" asked Ahsoka If you aren't Sith, and you aren't Jedi, where did you come from? I'd like to know why we're so important to you."

"This will be difficult to explain," said the man "But I shall start with our names, I am Saber Master Ray Tanner, and this is my Padawan, Daria Reesan, of the order of the Saber Knights."

"Never heard of you," said Seria

"We are a secret order," said Tanner "Hidden on the planet Illum, the same place the four of you went to obtain your lightsaber crystals. We have found a way to grow our own saber crystals, so we do not use that cave anymore. If you are looking for a place to hide, our temple on Illum is the best place to do so."

"I still don't feel I can trust you," said Ahsoka "What if you are leading us into a trap?"

"Aside from the fact we've just rescued you from one?" Daria shrugged "I guess you'll just have to trust us."

"Peace, Daria," said Tanner "They've just been betrayed by their own, it must have taken an extraordinary amount of willpower to deny the orders that they sent you, Captain Rex."

"Let's just say, I'm loyal to my comrades, including the Jedi," said Rex "They've saved my life, and I theirs, more times than I can count, and I owe them more than I owe the Republic."

"You chose a handful of Jedi over the entire army of the Republic?" asked Daria "That must take extraordinary willpower, the Jedi remaining are lucky to have you."

"I must know if any Jedi still live," said Ahsoka "I owe it to them to try and find them before the Republic does, I refuse to believe that all the Jedi are extinct. An old comrade of mine, Obi Wan Kenobi, went to Utapau to apprehend General Grievous of the Trade Federation, if he's alive, I must know."

"Is there a safer way to do this?" asked Tanner "Utapau is surely under Republic control by now if your friend has been successful. Is there not a Jedi freqency you can use to contact him?"

"I can certainly try," said Ahsoka "Rex, patch me into the comm system."

After entering the codes for the frequency, she started scanning for messages, and found a familiar blip. Every Padawan that went into the war waits for this blip. It was the coded retreat signal, a request for all Jedi to return to the temple, a signal that the war is over. Ahsoka knew, however, that it was a trap. The Jedi Temple was overrun by clone troopers, any Jedi that did make it home would be killed.

"We have to return to the temple," said Ahsoka

"You're out of your mind," said Daria, raising her eyebrows at Ahsoka "You want to go into the capital of the Republic, protected by thousands of ships."

"We need to turn off that signal," said Ahsoka "If the surviving Jedi are to have any chance at all, we need to make sure none of them return to the temple."

"I just pulled you out of there, Ahsoka, I'm not bringing you back there," said Rex

"I'm not asking you to," said Ahsoka "I'll take the gunship, and fly in undetected, turn off the signal."

"I won't let you go alone," said Rex "As far as I know, you are the oldest surviving Jedi, you are too important to risk."

"Then who will watch the Padawans?" asked Ahsoka "They are most certainly not combat ready, and I am not bringing them into what I know is a trap."

"May I make a suggestion?" asked Ray Tanner "Myself and Daria will accompany you to the temple, the coordinates are programmed into the ship already, Rex can bring the Padawans to Illum, while we go investigate the temple."

"That seems like the best plan," said Rex "Go get in the gunship, we're dropping out of hyperspace for another jump in a few clicks, be ready."

Ahsoka led the two Saber Knights to the gunship, and fired it up, as the ship came out of hyperspace, Ahsoka forced the door open, and flew out, setting the coordinates for Coruscant.


	4. Chapter 4

**Ahsoka**

It was surprisingly easy to slip past Coruscant's significant defences, and land next to the Jedi temple. Smoke was rising from different areas of the temple. Within, the rooms were wrecked, clone troopers patrolled the temple, floor, ignoring the Jedi bodies they kept silent vigil over. Ahsoka ignited her two lightsabers, as the two Saber Knights followed suit, all three deflecting blaster bolts as they made their way towards the holocron room. However, they met very little resistance as they reached the room. Obi Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda were in the room, to Ahsoka's great surprise and relief.

"Master Obi Wan?" she asked, hardly daring to believe her good fortune

He turned, and there was no mistaking the Jedi Master now.

"Ahsoka, what happened, where's Anakin?" asked Obi Wan

Ahsoka didn't have the heart to tell him the truth.

"We came to deactivate the homing beacon," said Master Tanner "Apparently, you two beat us to it."

"Dark times, these are, for the Jedi," said Master Yoda "Found security footage, I have, watch it, we should."

Obi Wan shot a look at Tanner, as he tried to place him, then turned his attention to the footage.

They watched as clone troopers shot down Padawans.

"Painful to watch, this is," said Yoda "Turn it off, you should, lest your grief lead you down a dark path."

"Our emotions are part of who we are as people," said Master Tanner "Good or bad, it is never good to bottle them up for too long, that is how evil is made."

"I must see the face of the Sith Lord," said Obi Wan "You saw the lightsaber cuts on the Padawan's bodies, the Sith Lord was here."

Then, a hooded Anakin Skywalker walked into the hologram, cutting down several padawans as he went. The hoodded Anakin then knelt as a second figure came on the scene.

"You have done well, Lord Vader," said the cloaked figure, in a raspy voice that seemed vaguely familiar to Ahsoka, although she couldn't quite place it.

"Anakin," said Obi Wan, sinking to his knees "We expected so much."

"I didn't know how to tell you, Master," said Ahsoka "I should have seen it coming."

"You should not blame yourself, Ahsoka," said Obi Wan "If anyone is to blame for Anakin's betrayal, it is I."

"The time for assigning blame, this is not," said Master Yoda "Return to Senator Organa, we should."

"You are welcome to join us, Ahsoka," said Obi Wan "But I sense you have other plans."

"I wasn't alone when I escaped the temple," said Ahsoka "Clone Captain Rex, it seems, was more loyal to the Jedi than the Republic, he helped myself and 3 Padawans escape to Illum, where these two hail from. I can't explain now, but if we meet again, I will give you the full tale."

"Rex's loyalty is commendable," said Obi Wan "Very well, I wish you all the luck in the galaxy. Be careful, there are two Sith Lords out in the galaxy again, any surviving Jedi will need to be on their toes."

"I'll keep an eye out for more Jedi," said Ahsoka "If you find any, send them to Illum, we'll find them from there."


	5. Chapter 5

**Padawan Seria**

It had been a few days since they had landed on the planet. The Saber Knights had welcomed them in with open arms, and given them quarters together. Dean and Sera were content to just sit and wait for Ahsoka to return, but Seria was restless. She left the room after the third day, finding Rex standing guard outside.

"Something wrong, Seria?" he asked

"I feel restless," said Seria "I'm going for a walk, don't worry about me, the temple is safe enough, and I'm hardly defenceless."

"Don't go too far," said Rex "I gave Ahsoka my word I would protect you, and I honour my word."

Seria nodded, and began exploring the temple. It had a similar layout to the Jedi Temple, with a library, numerous sleeping quarters and a few different training rooms. When she was passing the training rooms, she saw a class in session, and stopped to watch. An older woman was sitting, cross-legged, in the centre of the room, her hands up to either side, as around twelve padawans duelled around her against hovering lightsabers that seemed to mimic the moves of a trained force user. Suddenly, Seria had a thought, and she opened herself to the Force. She was correct. Each one of the twelve lightsabers duelling against individual padawans were controlled by the woman in the middle, her Force presence shining like a beacon, as several less-bright strands connected the lightsabers to her. Whoever this woman was, she was more powerful than any Jedi Seria had ever seen fight. It would certainly be interesting to see how this woman fought.

As she thought this, the woman raised a hand, the strands she could see became taught and the lightsabers flew towards her, attaching themselves on her body.

"Danzen, your technique is flawless, but you show no imagination," said the woman "We all know you are masters of your lightsaber combat style, it's using that style to the best of your ability, and being able to surprise your opponent that is the key to victory. Remember Master Tanner's lesson? Derza, you still need work on perfecting your lightsaber style, meet me later on today and I'll help you work on it. Now, how can I help you, Padawan Seria?"

Many of the Padawans turned to look at Seria as she looked at the ground.

"I was bored, Master, and went exploring in the temple, came across your class," she replied, drawing her foot in a circle on the ground, averting her eyes from the stares of the other padawans.

The woman surveyed her for a moment, then a deactivated lightsaber flew from her belt to hover in front of her. Seria took the lightsaber tentatively, and ignited it. It was a yellow blade, like many of the training lightsabers she had used when learning lightsaber combat. The laser frequency was dialled down a lot, so the worst that could happen would be minor burns. She walked forward into the centre of the students, who had started muttering.

"I'm afraid I do not know your name, miss," said Seria, as she kept her lightsaber up in the guard position, ready for the woman to make the first move.

"Sona Seer," said the woman, then, she appeared to vanish into thin air.

Seria might have been surprised by this, but one of the first things the Jedi teach, is the ability to look without seeing. She was moving so fast, that Seria's eyes couldn't see her. So, she closed her eyes, and reached out through the Force. She turned, bringing her lightsaber up to block Sona's lightsaber from behind. She opened her eyes to see the woman smiling in approval. Then she was on the attack, her lightsaber so fast, it was a blur. It was taking all of Seria's energy to block the attacks. It didn't make it any easier that Sona's image kept fluttering in and out of focus, like a bad holonet connection. Seria threw herself to the side, using the Force to flip herself out of danger, and she threw her lightsaber at Sona's back.

Sona turned, stopping the lightsaber in it's tracks. Slowly, she turned it around so it was facing Seria. Then, six other lightsabers, all yellow-bladed, joined the first in the air, all seven pointed at Seria, Seria pushed back with her own Force powers, stopping the lightsabers from flying at her and skewering her. The amount of power behind the lightsabers was intense, she could barely keep them from flying at her. Seria, once again, saw the strands connecting the lightsabers to Sona. Maybe there was another way to do this. Her hands still up, she tried moving one of the lightsabers to the side slightly, crossing one Force connection with the other. Both broke, and the lightsabers began falling to the ground. Relinquishing her hold on the other lightsabers, Seria put all her power into bringing those two lightsabers to her hands. A split-second after that, she jumped, using the Force, out of the way, as five lightsabers buried themselves in the floor where she had once been.

She landed on the wall of the temple, about halfway up, now with two lightsabers held in a battle stance, and two strands of power connecting her to the wall. Taking her chance at the now apparently defenceless Sona Seer, she propelled herself off the wall, meaning to land behind Sona, putting both lightsabers in front of her neck. It didn't work out that way, Sona Seer twisted out of the way, using Seria's momentum to slam her into the ground face down. Dazed but unhurt, Seria slowly turned over, to find one of her own lightsabers at her chest.

"Very good, Seria," said Sona "I haven't had this much fight from one of my padawans in a long time, which lightsaber style were you using?"

"It's my own, Master Sona," said Seria "None of the other styles really suited me, so I adapted some jungle techniques that I learned on my homeworld, I call it wild style, but it doesn't really have a proper name yet."

"I have heard it rumoured, that when a person creates their own style, and becomes master of it, they are nigh unstoppable in combat," said Sona "You're not there yet, but anybody who can give me a fight like that is very close."

Seria bowed respectively, and many of the students, who had been watching, made to leave. Seria made to follow them, when Sona called her back.

"I notice you only have a single lightsaber on your belt, I have a couple spare, if you need it," she said

"I've only ever used a single lightsaber in the past," said Seria "I only took the other one off you to lessen your advantage, guess it didn't really work."

"It was a good strategy," said Sona "Against most Jedi or Sith, it would have allowed you to gain the upper hand, it is just a pity you were fighting a Saber Knight, who carries many lightsabers, and masters many lightsaber styles. Even if you don't use them, additional lightsabers would be very valuable to you, as proven in the earlier fight. It seems to fit your invented style more than a single saber. I have many spare in storage, you can take your pick."

"I would be honoured," said Seria, following Sona into an adjoining room "I thank you for the sparring session, Master, I would like to spar again some time, if you're willing."

"No need to be so shy, Seria," said Master Sona "Anyone who can fight like that has nothing to be ashamed about, you may not have lasted long against me, but I have no doubt you would be able to beat any of the other students in this class in a fair fight."

"What would you consider a fair fight?" asked Daria

"A fight between two equally trained fighters in their respected disciplines," said Sona "The Jedi, the Sith, the Saber Knights, many people argue the relative power of one group over the other, but generally, the best fight comes from two equally trained fighters against each other, you learn more from fighting each other than you ever learn in either of your time before the fight."

Sona began passing Seria lightsabers, trying to find one that fit her hand, and that she liked. Eventually, she decided on one that just seemed to fit in her hand, it was blue, the same colour as the one she already used.

"That is a fine choice," said Sona "That's an old lightsaber, from the times of the Old Republic, see the curved blade? It was made to fit the hand of the person who forged it, but it seems to fit your hand almost perfectly. You should feel honoured to wield such a blade."

Bowing respectfully to Sona, she left the room.


End file.
